STORY: It used to be a hub for student nightlife in South Korea’s capital.
But Seoul’s Nokdu Street is quieter place these days.
Formerly bustling pubs often sit half empty, where drinkers once spilled onto the street.
It’s a telling sign of the decline in Korea’s once-notorious drinking culture.
Pancake house owner Jun Jung-Sook has watched it all.
She says the street used to be so packed you couldn’t see the ground.
The change has been driven by corporate Korea slowing down on after-work drinking bouts, called ‘hoesik’, once a near-obligatory part of workplace life.
Female workers have been emboldened to say no to the drunken sessions, helped by a 2007 court ruling that it was an offence for senior staffers to force their juniors to drink.
Many women have complained about sexual harassment, and the impact on childcare.
Meanwhile, high inflation and interest rates have left all consumers wary about spending.
More young people are also rejecting the whole idea of basing social life around drinking.
Son Hyeon-seo is president of the Alcohol Reduction Association at Seoul’s Samyook University.
She says she decided to act after seeing friends get into danger when drunk.
That leaves the city’s nightlife industry nursing some big losses.
An index measuring sales at local eateries hit a record low last year.
The number of karaoke singing rooms has tumbled by almost three thousand over the past four years.
Back at the pancake place, Jun doesn’t know what to do.
She says she put the business up for lease two years ago… and hasn’t had a single inquiry since.
